Bangladesh had recorded 1,189 measles-related deaths by 17 October, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) bulletin relayed by bdnews241. The toll has risen by 159 since 14 September, when it stood at 1,030 and was still climbing after 19.75 million children had been vaccinated. measles is a highly contagious virus that two vaccine doses prevent, and deaths fall hardest on young and malnourished children.
22OCT
Bangladesh measles deaths climb to 1,189
1 min read
16:36UTC
Bangladesh had recorded 1,189 measles-related deaths by 17 October, 159 more than in mid-September, health ministry figures relayed by bdnews24 show.
ScienceDeveloping
Key takeaway
Bangladesh's measles deaths rose by 159 in about a month, to 1,189.
Deep Analysis
In plain English
measles is a highly contagious virus that causes fever, rash and cough. In young or malnourished children it can lead to pneumonia and death. Two doses of vaccine prevent it, but babies are usually vaccinated only from nine months old, leaving the youngest unprotected. Bangladesh has had very few measles cases in recent years, so this outbreak is a sharp reversal.
Root Causes
Most of the deaths are counted as suspected rather than laboratory-confirmed, so the toll may include some children who died of other illnesses with similar symptoms. The trend, not the exact number, carries the signal.
Malnutrition and crowded living conditions raise the risk of dying from measles, especially among infants.
What could happen next?
- Risk
Deaths among infants too young for routine vaccination will continue while the virus circulates widely.
First Reported In
Update #15 · Ebola travels to Kenya and Nigeria
bdnews24.com· 22 Oct 2026
Read original →Causes and effects
This Event
Bangladesh measles deaths climb to 1,189
Bangladesh's measles death toll is still rising by more than 150 a month despite a mass vaccination drive.
Different Perspectives
Pan American Health Organization
PAHO warned on 20 October that El Niño is set to intensify as the dengue season begins, and issued a regional screwworm alert on 16 October. It wants veterinary and human health workers reporting into one surveillance system.
UK Health Security Agency
UKHSA links three Salmonella Enteritidis clusters to imported eggs and has two large importers under investigation without naming either. Its sequencing led the Food Standards Agency to recall eggs from Kyiv producer Yasensvit.
ECDC
ECDC says Europe's West Nile season affected a broader area than any before and calls Germany's first local Sindbis virus case not unexpected, since the virus was already found in German mosquitoes and birds. It cautions that missing clade data limit how far Europe's clade I mpox rise can be read.
Ghana Ministry of Health
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh declared a yellow fever outbreak in the Upper West Region after a Dakar laboratory confirmed three cases, all of whom died. Ghana plans an emergency vaccination campaign in three districts this month.
Government of Côte d'Ivoire
Spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly reported 23 yellow fever cases and 11 deaths in Bounkani on 14 October and said the country holds more than 400,000 vaccine doses. He did not say how many cases were laboratory-confirmed, which leaves the outbreak's true size unclear.
World Health Organization
WHO says no cause has been found for the Irkutsk technician's death and a laboratory-associated exposure cannot be fully excluded. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged states to finish the pathogen-sharing annex that holds the Pandemic Agreement back from signature.
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.